Wheatland Crossing School held its first ever graduation, graduating 17 students from the class of 2017.

In its first-year as a school, with students from all over Wheatland County, 17 students were part of a special ceremony, being the first grads ever. The ceremony was held on May 26 at the Wheatland Crossing School gym, which just recently opened.

Valedictorian Joshua Holloway had a special message for his graduating classmates thanking them and wished them the best of luck moving forward, he also thanked the school and the teachers they had throughout the years and thanked God.

“My greatest thanks goes to God,” he said.

“God has given me the courage to be who I am and shine in all things.”

He gave advice to his fellow grads as well.

“Don’t hesitate and don’t wait. If there’s something that needs to get done… get it done. No matter what the task, if you just sit down and try to complete it, you will figure it out,” said Holloway.

Standard Mayor Alan Larson, representing the Golden Hills School Division Board of Trustees and Superintendent Bevan Daverne, had a message for the graduation class.

He remembered when he received advice when he graduated from an older fella and kind of gave the Wheatland Crossing grads a similar message.

“Life isn’t perfect. There are always challenges and how you handle those challenges is what matters. On that note, if you never do anything you’ll never do anything wrong,” he said.

“Never be scared of failure. Failing isn’t a bad thing, but failing to learn from failure is.”

“Some of you will join the workforce and some of you will continue your education and some are still unsure of their future… success will be measured differently for each and every one of you, but remember that only you can measure your own accomplishments.”

“I want to challenge each and every one of you to continue to grow in the years to come.”

The Mayor of Standard then went back to his opening remarks.

“Remember that people who don’t take risks protect themselves from the lows, but they never experience the highs that life has to offer,” said Larson.

Mr. Ed Yu then performed a remade Frozen song, a comedic version that referenced all the 2017 grads. He did a terrific job and made everyone laugh.

Principal Karen Smith then gave out that graduation certificates to the grads and later gave a speech as well.

When she thought about these grads the word change kept coming up.

“The past 12 years, you all have changed so much and there has even been significant change since the beginning of this school year,” said Smith.

“This graduation is a beginning of change. You are the first graduating class of Wheatland Crossing.”

“The road changes so quickly, you need to be extremely adaptable and resilient. Don’t be afraid of change, you can’t stop

it.”

“…People need to step out of their comfort zones to deal with change.”